A tsunami generated by the earthquake in Chile was felt right here on the Central Coast.

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In the Monterey Harbor the wave was barely noticeable but in the Santa Cruz Harbor, the employees said they saw a change in the sea. At both harbors they say the warning system not only worked... but it helped them prepare for the future.

Santa Cruz deputy harbormaster Don Kinnamon said the tsunami came in just after 6 a.m. and created 1-foot surge waves every 15 minutes for two hours.

In Monterey the tsunami that came through between 4 and 5 a.m. but it wasn't noticeable to many.

The wave differential in Monterey was less than a foot and even people who live on boats in the marina, and were waiting for the predicted tsunami didn't feel it.

"We didn't feel anything around here at all," said Sean McNearney who lives on his sailboat in the harbor.

But the National Weather Service said it made a dent on the tidal guage in the harbor and came in exactly when the tsunami warning center said it would.

“They have tons of computer simulations they are able to run that can kind of give you exactly the impact that will be felt across the Pacific Basin,” said Matt Mehle, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, explaining, how the Tsunami Warning Center makes predictions.

The tsunami also proved to NWS in Monterey that the tsunami warning buoys out in the Pacific are working and predicting wave sizes accurately.

"There are specific buoys all across the Pacific stretching in the equatorial region called the dart buoys and those are basically our first line of defense," Mehle said.

Faxes and advisories are sent out based on the readings from these buoys, and Scheiblauer said it is something his team was paying attention to overnight Wednesday.

"Absolutely, an 8.3 earthquake in this side of the world would definitely get our attention, so we would begin monitoring that and preparing if we need to prepare," Scheiblauer said.

In Santa Cruz Kinnamon said harbor staff got out at 5 a.m. to man the patrol boat and had crews walking the docks with lines in case any boats came loose.

"It was a good time to get some practice in," he said.

The NWS said tsunamis generated from earthquakes here in California or up through the Pacific Northwest, up in Alaska and around Japan, pose the biggest threat to our coastline.